Ariana Brown
Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from the Southside of San Antonio, Texas, now based in Houston, Texas. She is the author of the poetry collections We Are Owed. (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020). Ariana's work investigates queer Black personhood in Mexican American spaces, Black relationality and girlhood, loneliness, and care. Her debut poetry EP, LET US BE ENOUGH, is available on Bandcamp.
She holds a B.A. in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies from UT Austin, an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh, and an M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. Ariana is a 2014 national collegiate poetry slam champion and owes much of her practice to Black performance communities led by Black women poets from the South. She has been writing, performing, and teaching poetry for over ten years. Follow Ariana on Twitter and Instagram @ArianaThePoet.
Selected Publications
POETRY: “For everyone who tried on the slipper before Cinderella,” Poets.org
POETRY: “Letter to Yanga, from Six-Year-Old Ariana,” Literary Hub
POETRY: “Dear White Girls in My Spanish Class,” The Acentos Review
WORKS:
We Are Owed.
Grieveland, 2021
Sana Sana
Game Over Books, 2020
LET US BE ENOUGH
Bandcamp, 2019
After Poems: a breakup zine
Topics addressed in readings:
Empire and nation building
African diaspora history
Mexican history
Spirituality and healing
Spoken word performance
Black feminism
Queerness and desire
Mental health, loneliness, and grief
Historical and ancestral memory
Creative writing process
Sample workshop 1: Radically Tender
Embracing our own softness can feel impossible in a world which tells us we must develop hardness in order to survive. How can we allow ourselves to find the power in tenderness, in softness? This workshop explores the capabilities of tenderness, focusing on self-care and communal care, through writing exercises and group dialogue. This workshop is discussion-based and ideal for beginner writers.
sample workshop 2: Finding the Words: How to End Writer’s Block
This is a writing workshop for poets and creative writers designed to get you out of your head! Do you edit yourself when writing? Do you have a hard time finding inspiration? Ariana offers guided, open-ended prompts to help participants generate new writing together and silence your inner critic so you can finally write in peace. Participants will walk away with at least one new poem and ideas for new creative work. Group sharing is encouraged. Ideal for writers of all backgrounds.
sample workshop 3: Collective Scream: Coping During COVID-19
Our lives are forever changed by the upheaval, grief, and violence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the virus continues to evolve, it is important we speak and connect with one another about how we are navigating everyday life. This gentle and generative workshop asks participants to simply document what their lives have been like since the virus surfaced in 2019 in the form of list poems and rants. Ariana will provide guided prompts and discussion with the hopes of finding relief and release. Ideal for participants of all backgrounds.
testimonials
“The virtue that I have long admired in the poems of Ariana Brown is the warmth that is directed upon the audience. And these poems know and identify their audience with gentleness and gratitude, even—or especially—when the audience is the self. Even death links its fingers with praise, even dislocation is met with a crawl back to some familiar affection. I am thankful to once again be witness to these poems that welcome and make space for the people who most need it. And for how Ariana Brown sets a lens on the world that is critical, but always caring.”
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AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATIONS
Individual Consultations and 6-month Mentorships include:
1:1 Reading Lists and Discussion
Insider Information about Publishing
Coaching
For more information on each service or to contact, please apply at Ariana’s website